Deb Mitchell

Deb fell in love with aviation while producing a television special on the A-10 demo team, U.S. Army Golden Knights and USAF Thunderbirds for a local air show. Her work was noticed by F-14 legend...Full author bio

Skydiver and Plane Collide in Florida

A Tampa photographer shot an amazing series of photos that captured the incredible moment when a WWII vet flying his Cessna collided with a skydiver. Miraculously, both men survived without serious injuries.

Editor's Note: The FOX 13 story below reports that the parachute's strings were cut 75 feet above the ground, however the images clearly show the incident occurred much closer to the ground.

Here's the story from Fox 13:

MULBERRY (FOX 13)
Two men were hurt when a plane collided with the parachute of a skydiver Saturday morning in Mulberry.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office says the pilot, 87-year-old Sharon Trembley, a WWII vet, was doing touch-and-goes in his private Cessna at the South Lakeland Airport.

During his third pass, the passenger side wing of his plane became entangled in and then cut the strings of a skydiver's parachute 75 feet above the ground.

The skydiver, 49-year-old John Frost of Gainesville, was flung to the earth. The plane nose-dived into the ground.

Both men were taken to the hospital. Neither were seriously injured.

Frost was treated and released. Trembley is being held for observation.

The National Traffic and Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the accident.